Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, each and every one of us are called to follow the path that the Lord has shown us, the new way of life that He has presented to us, as the path that each one of us should walk, as we live in this world. Each one of us as Christians have received the grace of God, the revelation of His way and truth. Therefore, it is only natural that each one of us should live our lives in the manner that all of us as Christians should be doing, in obeying God’s will and in carrying out what He has presented to us, or else we cannot consider ourselves as true and genuine Christians, followers and disciples of the Lord. True Christians will be willing to commit their lives and dedicate themselves wholeheartedly, even against the challenges of this world.

In our first reading today, we heard from the passage in the Book of Genesis in which we were told of the tale of how the inheritance of Isaac, the son of Abraham, his blessing and gifts were bestowed upon Jacob, the younger son of Isaac, while Esau, the elder son, forsook his inheritance and birthright, and how Isaac was also tricked by Jacob and his mother Rebekah, to give the blessing to Jacob instead of Esau. Upon listening and reading of this passage, we may think that what Rebekah and Jacob had planned was indeed devious and unjust, but the reality is that, everything happened as it should be in accordance with God’s will. It does not mean that what Rebekah and Jacob did in tricking Isaac was something that is right, but in the end, God’s grace and blessings, His will still rested upon Jacob, and upon his descendants.

Let us now look closer into the story to understand better its significance and meaning. Esau and Jacob were the two sons of Isaac, and were therefore the grandsons of Abraham, the one with whom God had established His Covenant. Abraham has been promised the blessings of God, the guidance and providence from God, which have now been passed on to Isaac, as Abraham’s heir. As the oldest son, Esau should have stood to gain the inheritance from his father, but when Jacob earlier on told Esau about exchanging his inheritance and rights for the food that he had made, as prelude to today’s reading, we should note how Esau took lightly of his inheritance and birthright. He did not take his inheritance seriously, and chose to sold off his rights and inheritance. Thus was how Jacob gained his rights to the inheritance, as agreed by Esau himself.

Not only that, but Jewish and prophetic traditions, as well as Church traditions and teachings highlighted that Esau had also been unworthy to be the heir of Isaac, because of his actions and misdeeds. It was also told that Esau married two Hittite women which was disapproved greatly by his parents, who preferred that their sons married some from within their extended relatives’ family, as Jacob eventually did. Regardless of the reasons, it can be seen that Esau had been less than worthy of God’s blessings, and yet, in the end, much like Ishmael before him, the elder half-brother of Isaac, God still cared for him and blessed him nonetheless. Esau would become the father of great nation, the Edomites, who lived alongside the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites, God’s first chosen people.

In his later life, Jacob had to face a lot of trial and tribulations, as he fled to far-off land in hiding from his brother, Esau’s wrath. He had to labour for many years in his uncle, Laban’s fields and care for his uncle’s flock, but he remained faithful to God and entrusted himself to His care and providence. Here we can see that Jacob has somewhat atoned for his mistakes and mischievousness, and most importantly, as contrasted to his elder brother, who disobeyed his parents and was also more wicked in his actions, Jacob kept his faith in God even amidst the difficult and troubling times of his exile. God blessed Jacob and guided him, and eventually made him to have a large family, that he led down back to the Promised Land, where he was eventually reunited with his father Isaac, and was also reconciled with his brother Esau, who had forgotten the feud and forgiven Jacob.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord telling His disciples when the disciples of St. John the Baptist came to them asking why they did not fast in the manner of how they and the Pharisees all fasted, that all of them follow His new path, the path of truth that He Himself has brought into this world. It was not that the old path and ways were wrong, but they had been used incorrectly in many occasions, and the Lord had come forth bearing the new revelations and truth to perfect the Law and the commandments. God has therefore called on all of His followers to commit themselves to the new path of righteousness, and not to be like especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often fasted and performed other pious actions because they wanted to be seen and praised by others around them for their actions.

That was why the Lord used the parable of the wine and wineskin, and the parable of the old and new cloth and their patches to highlight this matter to His disciples and followers. As the people at that time should be familiar with, old wine cannot be placed into new wineskin, or new wine cannot be placed into old wineskin. Similarly, it was also shown how the old cloth cannot be patched with a new piece of cloth and vice versa. This highlighted that to become true disciples and followers of the Lord, we should have the courage and the willingness to follow Him and to commit ourselves to His way of righteousness, and leaving behind our attachments to worldly matters and desires, which often distracted and tempted us all away from the true path towards righteousness in God.

Now, after listening to the stories and tales from the Scriptures, are we all more inspired and strengthened in our resolve to live our lives in a more Christ-like manner? Are we willing to embrace the Lord more wholeheartedly in His ways, and endeavour to do our best in glorifying Him by our lives, that is by our every words, actions and deeds? Can we commit ourselves to focus our energy and attention ever on the Lord and not upon the glories and pleasures of the world, so that we will always ever firm in our calling and mission as Christians? This is what we all need to discern on, and what we should do in our respective lives and vocations, as we continue to progress in our journey of faith, and in obeying God’s will and carrying out His commandments. We should always be ready to listen to God speaking to us, calling us and telling us what we are to do with our lives.

May the Lord, our ever loving God and Master, continue to provide for us, and strengthen each and every one of us so that in everything we say and do, and in our every commitments and works, we will always be ever worthy of Him, and that we will always walk in His path. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded yet again that all of us should have faith in the Lord and we should truly have faith in Him, and believe in His words. We should not doubt Him and we should always uphold a strong faith and have trust in Him, because He has always been true to His words. He has fulfilled the promises He had made to His people, as the Scriptures and traditions have shown us, in how God had always been there for us, for all of our fellow brothers and sisters who have suffered and were in need. The Lord’s help came at the time of His choosing, and while it might not be what the people had wanted, or at the time they desired it to be, God’s help and will came true just as He has desired it to be.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis in which the story of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, and their encounter with God was highlighted to us. At that occasion, God, Who had made a Covenant with Abraham, promising that the latter would soon have a son through Sarah, came to visit Abraham and Sarah at their place in Hebron, and Abraham immediately recognised the Lord Who came disguised in the figure of three men visiting his abode. Abraham welcomed the Lord and listened to all that the Lord revealed to him through His appearance. God once again reiterated that all that He had promised would come true, and everything would indeed happen as He had promised it to Abraham and Sarah.

And as we heard, Sarah was laughing quietly to herself when she heard the words of the Lord. The Lord knew what Sarah had done, and told her that everything would indeed come true as He had said it, and reminding her that everything is possible for God, and nothing is truly impossible for the all-powerful, Almighty God. It is definitely within God’s power to grant a son to an elderly couple, and to a woman who was already way beyond her childbearing years. The Lord did not joke about when He promised all that to Abraham, and indeed, everything came true as He had said and revealed it to Abraham. Abraham was indeed a bit impatient, and if we read on more about what happened then, we could see ourselves how he also wavered sometimes in faith.

For Abraham, according to the Book of Genesis, took his wife’s slave, Hagar, and had a son with her, out of the custom that this was the common practice during that time, that the son of a woman’s slave would be considered as her own son, and therefore could legally become the heir and inheritor of the family’s fortunes and more. However, that was not what God had in plan for Abraham and his family. When He promised Abraham that he would have a son, He was clear in stating that the son would be born to Abraham and Sarah, and indeed, it was fulfilled when Isaac, the promised child, was born to Sarah. The name Isaac itself means ‘laughter’ which does not just represent the joy that Abraham and Sarah of finally having their own son, but also a reminder of Sarah’s folly of laughing at the Lord’s promise, and for her momentary doubt and lack of faith.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Jesus and His interaction with an army captain or centurion, a rather high-ranking military man who had a sick servant. We all remember the phrase that the army centurion had mentioned, because at every celebration of the Holy Mass, all of us always mention the words that the army centurioned uttered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed’, which was almost exactly similar as what the captain had mentioned to the Lord. In that occasion, the captain exhibited publicly deep faith that he had in the Lord, in that he did not even need to see the Lord physically doing the miracle and healing to believe that He could heal his ailing servant, and he trusted in the Lord so much that he knew that by His words alone, his servant would be made well again.

We have to contrast this to the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who have seen and witnessed many of the Lord’s signs and miracles, actions and works, and yet still refused to believe in Him, and even asked and demanded Him to show them more signs and wonders, before they would believe in Him. The army captain, a person of high rank, that could even be one of the Romans, given the gravity of his position, could have been proud and haughty as well, and demanding the Lord to come and attend to his servant. Instead, he was full of humility and consideration, likely knowing that in the Jewish customs and practices, it was taboo for a Jew like the Lord Jesus to come and enter into the household of a pagan like the captain himself, for that would have made them unclean. Thus, the army captain publicly professed his faith and trust in the Lord by doing what he had done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can clearly see how all of us are called and reminded to have faith in the Lord, to trust in Him, in His words, providence and in all the things that He had done for us. The Lord has never abandoned us or refused us, and He has always patiently reached out to us, and waiting for us all to return to Him, for all of us are truly and dearly beloved by Him. Each and every one of us who have received this most wonderful love and grace, and received the revelation of His truth through the Church, all of us as Christians should therefore embody our faith in God through our lives, our every actions and deeds, in our every interactions, even to the smallest and seemingly least significant of the things we say and do in our daily moments. We should be inspired by the examples of Abraham, our father in faith and also the faith of the army captain in today’s Gospel.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reach out to the Lord with renewed faith and commitment, doing whatever we can to glorify Him by our lives, by our every actions, words and deeds. Let us all be the shining beacons of God’s truth and love, and may our lives ever be inspiration for many others, in how we embody our faith in the Lord and in our unfailing dedication to Him, at all times. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.